The word is
pronounced "Wee-ja" but sadly often
mispronounced (incorrectly) as "Wee-ji".

The origins of
the Ouija board begin with two sisters; the Fox sisters, who actively
claimed to communicate with spirits on a regular basis. They developed
a system of knocks for each letter of the alphabet and so communicated
with the spirit world using this method. Word traveled fast about the
sisters' talent of contacting the dead and soon everyone from America
to Europe wanted to do the same.

Parlour
games were soon on the market with the first being the "Planchette"
meaning Little Board in French.
The Planchette was a board of wood with a pencil attached and two
wheels. Fingers would be placed on the board of wood and the spirits
would guide the movement of hands creating words. Of course these games
were open to interpretation and often players could not decipher what
it was the spirits were saying and soon became bored with the amount of
time it took to spell out words.

More games such as
this became available but in 1891 two gentlemen, Elijah Bond and
Charles Kennard, had an idea to attach the planchette to a board with
the alphabet on it and had in fact invented the first Ouija board. The
famous "William Fuld", who at the time was an employee of Kennard
eventually took over production of the board in 1901 under his own
company name and quickly patented the name "Ouija". He then
successfully sold his version of the board under that name.
Fuld claimed the word "Ouija" was entirely his idea and given to him
via a séance using his very own board. He claimed the word
was ancient Egyptian for "Good Luck". This is incorrect, but the name
has continued on ever since.

William Fuld
actively sued copies of the Ouija or any other companies daring to use
the name or concept right up until his death in 1927. The Fuld business
was eventually sold off to Parker Brothers (now Hasbro) in 1966. Hasbro
still holds the trademark to this day, however this trademark is not
international and also not genericizised for the Ouija board.

Ouija boards are
sold in stores such as Toys 'R' Us (USA), however if you are serious
about buying a board, and want it now, try printing out our Castle of Spirits very own Ouija board
or if you want a proper wooden Ouija as sold by Hasbro try Amazon.com as they have a large
range of Ouija Boards and similar items for sale.

You do not need
an Ouija Board to conduct a seance.

The word
séance is French meaning "seat, session", derived from old
French term seoir,"to sit".

The Ouija board
hasn't always enjoyed novelty status however, and as many of you may
know, it has a darker, more sinister association.
The board was considered to be a fun game for all the family to play,
especially for friends to gather and play after dinner parties in
Victorian times. This was until the early 1920's, when a shadow was
thrown over the use of the Ouija Board and contacting the dead.

Famous magician
Harry Houdini who was also noted for debunking seances and querying the
paranormal, wrote that five people from Carrito,
California were driven insane by using a board.
Some doctors began noticing altered states of mind in some constant
users of the board, these states were sometimes so severe that
commitment to an asylum was required.
Dr. Curry, a former medical direct of the Sate Insane Asylum of New
Jersey claimed that the Ouija board was a dangerous factor in
unbalancing the mind and believed that if their popularity persisted,
insane asylums would be filled with people who used them.

The next major
and probably the most momentous influence in the downfall of the Ouija
was in 1973 after the release of the well known horror film The
Exorcist.

In The Exorcist Regan, the girl possessed by Pazuzu the Demon, first
communicated with the Demon through an Ouija Board. For the first time
the public wholeheartedly believed in the movie's idea that playing
with a Ouija board could result in nothing but trouble, or, as in
Regan's case.....worse. The Ouija board then suffered a great decline
in its popularity, people began burning their own boards and shunning
the sale of them from game stores.
To this day the Ouija board has never shaken off that terrible
connection with evil, the dark side and black magic.

How Does it Work?

There are many
different theories as to why and how an Ouija board works.
Psychologists and skeptics explain it as a simple type of muscle reflex
that makes your hand automatically move and your subconscious mind
control the words that are spelled out. This action is often called the
"ideomotor effect". It is an unconscious motor action that is the
result of suggestion or expectation and attributed to not only the
action of Ouija boards, but also to table tipping and dowsing. There of
course is no strong evidence to back up these claims, but we must still
remain open minded to the fact that an Ouija board may not in fact be a
way of communicating with sprits.

Simple and easy to do it's a great way to
get your own board happening if the above download doesn't work.

YOU WILL NEED:

1 large table (a dining table is a good
idea) with a polished surface.
Paper, a black texta, scissors and a glass.

Simply write out the alphabet and numbers
one to nine along with the words "yes" "no" and "good bye" on the paper
and either cut or rip into squares around each letter, each number and
the words.
Place letters of the alphabet in a large circle (big enough for the
glass to move around in) with the words "Yes" "no" and "good bye" in
the middle of the circle of alphabet.Place your glass in the middle of the
table and follow the instructions below

INSTRUCTIONS

Two
or more people are recommended for using the Ouija board - more than
three can be a bit two crowded - the general feeling is that three is
just about the right amount for a seance.

First of all make
sure everyone who is present would like to participate in the seance.
Do not involve anyone who is under the influence of drugs and/or
alcohol. If anyone is overly skeptical its always a good idea to remove
them from the room. If anyone is frightened or worried, don't try to
convince them to stay, tell them to leave or put them in another room
away from the seance.

Each person is to place
2 fingers of one hand on the pointer (planchette).

Ask questions that you
would like answered and soon the planchette should start moving around
the board in answer.

Make sure only one
person asks questions at a time which avoids confusion.

Try to avoid any
negativity or asking for anything bad.

If the board does not
work try swapping participants around and taking some participants
hands off the planchette

The planchette may
start off by spinning circles - some say that this is the spirit trying
to gain energy to communicate - some say it is the spirit finding it's
way around the board.

If you do not
understand what the spirit is trying to communicate to you ask it to
either repeat the answer or ask questions that will clearly define what
you would like to know.

If a spirit appears to
be having trouble communicating ask what you can do to improve the
communication.

If a spirit points to
"good bye" let it go and say good bye.

If the planchette moves
or falls off the board, simply place it back in the middle and go from
there.

If you want to finish
the seance place the planchette on "Good Bye" and say that you are now
leaving. Everyone should then remove their hands from the board and the
table. The board will be closed.

If the Ouija board is in fact contacting
spirits of the dead and long gone, then you may need to show some
amount of caution as to who you communicate with and try to remember
the following:

A few words of advice from a close
friend of mine who is a medium:

"Spirits have different personalities
just like you and I - a lot of the time they get impatient and cannot
spell, they sometimes use letters like U for You and R for are, 2 for
to and so on. Quite often they simply use the initial of the person
they are talking about (or to) instead of spelling out their name. Be
aware that it requires a lot of energy on both sides to have a seance
going. If the spirit gets tired they find it difficult to communicate
with us and things will not run as well or as smoothly as you would
wish. Since so much energy is used and needed, something like a
possession would almost be unthinkable and unrealistic (and impossible)
to do, and besides, there's no real evidence of any such thing ever
happening. Be open minded, be careful and be aware!

Should a spirit show up that is overly rude, annoying or appears to
have a violent personality, communication should be broken immediately
- do not attempt to talk to this spirit in any way shape or form - if
you keep the board open it will only return and annoy you - it's best
that you stop the seance, put the board away, and give it a rest for a
while, hopefully the next seance will not bring back this pesky spirit.

Sometimes
spirits will show up as liars and deceivers, just as they were in human
form, there aren't so many out there like this but they are out there.
Don't believe everything you are told without questioning it".

On the skeptical note:
There is no real, hard evidence to show that anything lingers on
afterwards, who's to say that events that happen afterwards are from a
seance? You need to be sure that you are not talking yourself into
things and not associating a seance with anything that happens
afterwards just because you can, and just because a seance is a great
excuse to blame things on!. Ask yourself "Would this have happened if I
had a seance"? The answer is usually YES, it could happen at any time,
anywhere, it doesn't mean that anything from a Ouija board is causing
things to happen.

Its a sad
fact that most stories surrounding events at a seance with an Ouija
board are greatly over exaggerated or simply made up. Some of the
stories that are told are just that, a story, and nothing more. It is
good to remind yourself that an Ouija board is a board of wood with
painted or written letters on it, such as street signs and billboards
that are certainly not tools to contact the dead with, there is nothing
really to be afraid of.
There is no evidence to show that Ouija boards are in any way dangerous
or anything particularly more than a simple piece of wood with writing
on it.

I hope if you decide to have a seance that you will remain open minded
and use your common sense and intelligence to investigate the events,
keep your eyes open, look around, and decide for yourself what is
really happening.

Good
luck!
Rowena
Castle of Spirits

Rowena, Leanne & Ronalee
Australian Ghost Hunters @ Castle of Spirits

Interesting
sites for more information on Ouija Boards & Sources for Castle
of Spirits.com Ouija Boards